Competition is tough and package designers are struggling over how to differentiate there products from the others. Some times in the creative wars it might get a little far afield.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am a sucker for great packaging design. Package design is one of the ways to capture the consumer’s interest. But designers can also lose their perspective when trying to create something new, different or unique. It’s definitely and uphill battle.

There are many niche markets out there so perhaps these examples are specific to them.

In any case I find them bizarre, weird and packaging.

Who remembers all the novels or literature they read in school? One needs to be well educated to make these connections with this packaging. And this is perfume packaging. Oh my!

Bizarre Packaging

via Packaging Of The World

I guess this company thought that cigarette packaging would make their books more appealing.

Kind of strange now that smoking is on the wane. Most countries are now relegated to plain cigarette packaging too.

Strange Packaging

via Huffington Post

I guess in some countries this is considered appealing. Purple pink don’t make it in my book, especially for pizza.

Weird Packaging

via PackagingNews

The alcoholic beverage industry has fierce competition. While the aesthetics are nice who wants to go to all this trouble?

Weird Packaging

via Core77

I used this example before in packaging examples using skulls. This might be all right for Halloween or Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) but who wants this in their liquor cabinet?

Weird Packaging

A collagen ball to eat and the green too! This is plain Yuckk!

Bizarre Product and Packaging

via kidcrave

The King himself is very strange. Just watching him on TV gives me nightmares (LOL)

But can you imagine allow your kids to play with this?

Strange Packaging

via the DieLine

Got some strange packaging you want to share? Drop me a line, I’m always interested in learning how bizarre, strange or weird packaging can help you build your brand and how to capitalize on creativity.

There is so much happening every week in the wide world of packaging. Not all of it is relevant to your business but these insights will keep you educated and in touch.

• Plastic bags are easy to hate, but when they are recycled properly become “green” gold @ http://is.gd/ernQB
  This is one packaging issue where there are two sides to the story. That happens more than you might think. Here are some more illustrations in There Are Two Sides To Every Packaging Story
• Boulder Canyon Claims First Compostable Packaging for Natural Snacks… http://lnkd.in/BkEuA9
  This isn’t the first compostable package but it is for natural snacks. I compare how the media is slanted in my special report Sustainable Packaging – From Green to Great a retrospective about what green packaging works and what doesn’t work. Order at http://packaginguniversity.com/pkgustorefront.htm#WhitePapers
• Packaging can’t win. Green Packaging Comes Under Fire for Creating a Racket @ http://bit.ly/9xirb2
  People think this is funny but its not. A packaging solution that seems to work yet still gets flack. What you want is good publicity not bad. Why not get Sustainable Packaging Reality Check
• 94% Americans are concerned about long-term effects of packaged beverages on the environment @ http://bit.ly/a9IJ44
  One thing is for sure Green Is No Longer On The Fringe
• Recycling recovered material from PET bottles must be less than 50% to achieve a lower carbon footprint @ http://is.gd/ekf1A
  Don’t know what this means or what “carbon footprint” is all about? I created an 18 point “carbon footprint” check list for Sprint that will help you determine just how green your packaging is. Its part of the package of goodies you will get when you order Is it Green or Garbage?

Think some other tweets related to eco packaging news are important? How about your comments on these insights? Please let me know what you think and how we can turn packaging problems into packaging success.

And, if you care about packaging, how about  “liking” this post please. Thanks…

So how do you combat the latest whims of the fickle consumer? You follow me either though my blog here, or on Twitter @packagingdiva or you hire me to help you keep abreast of the latest packaging trends technologies and innovations and how it will impact your business.

There is so much happening every week in the wide world of packaging. Not all of it is relevant to your business but these insights will keep you in touch.

Packaging Tips:

• Sometimes visibility or awareness of your packaging brand comes from the most unusual places. Be prepared to seize them. So many opportunities so little time. You Shopped Where?
• Packaging is viewed from many lenses. You may not be able to satisfy them all. For every package there is a critic. Dumb Packaging Critics
• Sometimes best the packaging ideas fail. Could be for a variety of reasons: too innovative, too early or misunderstood by the consumer. Or in this case problems not caught before shipping in Packaging Eyeballs
• There are many ways to resolve the same packaging problem. Marry the need with the right packaging outcome. These tips will help you overcome Packaging Snafus and Problems

Packaging Hot Buttons:

• Focus on ingredients overlooks sustainable packaging @ http://is.gd/eroCg. Sustainable packaging is a huge issue and growing all the time as you will find out in Green Is No Longer On The Fringe
• 1st Annual Packaging Jingle Contest A Social Success @ http://is.gd/eoTut. What do 40,000 peeps know. How important social media can be. Find out how to get started in 10 Packaging Lessons I Learned From Twitter
• What packaging is compostable? It’s complicated. One of many explanations @ http://is.gd/ekxQY. I cover compostable packaging in more detail in Sustainable Retail Packaging Design

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Why China’s Days as Manufacturing Outsourcer Are Numbered @ http://bit.ly/cTlPSA. Learn more about Packaging: The Hidden Power Player In A Global Society

Thank you peeps who took time to create a packaging jingle (packaging is 3rd largest US industry)

The jingles represent an awesome display of creative talent @ http://is.gd/e2uKo

Over 60 packaging jingles were submitted for the 1st annual competition. So it was hard for our judges to decide who’s jingle was the best but they did pick a winner.

And the Twitter Packaging Jingle winner is @eheebs Elizabeth from tailfordmitchell.com

You can learn more about her @ http://www.tailfordmitchell.com/pdf/Elizabeth.pdf

and Paul Bernard from tailfordmitchell.com

Her jingle was judged to be the most creative to the point and exactly 140 characters.

Drum Roll please:

A package ain’t just a bag or box, to hold your nuts or sell your socks. It must make friends in the store, so people want your product more

and the Twitter Packaging Jingle award goes to Elizabeth for use for 1 year.

Honorable mentions include #41 Cheri Allbritton, Twitter ID @ArveyColumbus #46 Todd Gasparik Twitter ID @smartplanettech and Amrik Tatla #47, all of which can be read at @ http://is.gd/e2uKo

Some jingles were really good but they exceeded the amount of characters allowed by Twitter. Also some people didn’t have a Twitter ID so getting publicity for their participation was moot.

But in any case special thanks to all packaging jingle participants for making the 1st annual packaging jingle contest a success.

Our judges:

Brad Shorr Director of Content Marketing for Straight North, blogger, and packaging industry marketing specialist Brad Shorr. More about Brad can be found @ http://www.straightnorth.com Twitter ID @BradShorr

Mark Spaulding editor of The Converting Curmudgeon Blog, 25+ years of packaging journalism, package-printing industry bon vivant…and dog lover. Twitter ID @CnvCurmudgeon

Award designer Miguel Elasmar Twitter ID @24KLogos
More about Miguel: Miguel E. Elasmar is a results-driven, creative consultant, designer and branding strategist located in the Orlando Florida area, serving the continental U.S., Canada and Latin America.

So until next year keep those creative thinking caps on and keep tweeting.

How Well Do You Know Your Customer?

Follow me either though my blog here, or on Twitter @packagingdiva or you hire me to help you keep abreast of the latest packaging trends technologies and innovations and how it will impact your business. There is so much happening every week in the wide world of packaging. Not all of it is relevant to your business but these insights will keep you in touch.

This disposable toothbrush is getting ripped.

Because it is in fact disposable and a disposable society is now considered bad.

But consumers want it so where is the commonality of interests between sustainable, eco-friendly packaging and common sense?

Disposable Packaging

Is the answer this toothbrush made from recycled materials?

Preserve products are powered by you and your recycling efforts. Through Preserve’s Gimme 5 program, you can recycle your #5 plastics—a kind of plastic that many towns and cities won’t recycle.

Recycled Packaging

via Inhabitat.com

But what about this product? The whole essence is portability and disposability. After all you can’t be seen in public without clean teeth let alone get kissed.

Colgate Wisp Packaging

But even more important is packaging with a purpose. These products get kids to brush their teeth more. So is this considered excess packaging?

Packaging With A Purpose

The whole point is that packaging shapes our lives. Products are created because consumers want them and yes some can be considered excess.

The solution lies in marry consumer wants and needs with packaging that makes sense. That’s what I do for my clients. Help them solve the packaging dilemma.

Do you have a packaging innovation that can shape peoples lives?

Be sure and share it here.

So how do you combat the latest vagaries of the fickle consumer? You follow me either though my blog here, or on Twitter @packagingdiva or you hire me to help you keep abreast of the latest packaging trends technologies and innovations and how it will impact your business.

There is so much happening every week in the wide world of packaging. Not all of it is relevant to your business but these insights will keep you in touch.

• Gisele Bundchen Teams Up With P&G Beauty to Launch Sustainable Packaging Makeover @ http://is.gd/eg6Xp
  No doubt about it “green” is hot and celebrities are jumping on the bandwagon. You don’t have to be P&G and spend huge bucks to hire a celebrity. You can take 6 steps to greener packaging for only $14.95
• Three P&G brands will be packaged with renewable, sugarcane-based plastic starting in 2011@ http://is.gd/eevSM.
  Mushroom-based packaging uses 98% less energy @ http://nature.ly/c6VgSi
  So many new “eco” materials for packaging. Its hard to keep up but you can learn more in Packaging Lessons Learned From Nature
• Cheeky Repurposed Packaging – Bryan Connor’s ‘The Stuff of Dreams’ … http://goo.gl/fb/IO2b2
  Repurposing is one of the 6 sustainable packaging R’s. There are so many opportunities to reuse existing packaging material. See a few more examples in Repurposed Packaging: The Packaging Of The Future?
• Unilever Plans for 100% Sustainable Packaging @ http://is.gd/eaccP
  Sustainable packaging its a good marketing ploy. Everybody’s doing it..
  But is it Truly Green Or Just Green Packaging Noise?

If there is an issue you would like to know more about or not sure how to navigate the muddled waters of greener packaging? I can help.

Just drop me a line with your specific question.

So how do you combat the latest vagaries of the fickle consumer? You follow me either though my blog here, or on Twitter @packagingdiva or you hire me to help you keep abreast of the latest packaging trends technologies and innovations and how it will impact your business.

There is so much happening every week in the wide world of packaging. Not all of it is relevant to your business but these insights will keep you in touch.

Packaging Tips:

• Just because you hit your market the 1st time doesn’t mean you will the next. Your consumer is a moving target and its up to you to stay in touch.
  2010 Packaging Trends Impacting What Consumers Will Buy
• Package yourself like a product. You never know who might be looking for or at you (LOL)
  For more help read Packaging Yourself As A Brand
• A package is more than just a conveyance. It plays many roles make sure your packaging encompasses them all.
  5 Things Every Business Needs To Know About Packaging
• Off the wall packaging ideas can inspire reality based packaging that works.
  More packaging that WORKS

Packaging Hot Buttons:

• Give Water’s packaging draws attention line’s charitable mission @ http://bit.ly/c9pJT
  More on using charitable causes on your packaging:
  Is Your Packaging In The Pink?
• Consumers really are making a difference in beverage packaging industry @ http://bit.ly/cb20aM
  Look at all these innovative water bottles
• The Importance of Packaging Design 4 Successful Marketing Campaign @ http://bit.ly/bmD40p
  How To Tell If Your Packaging Will Sell Your Product @
• Universal Pkg System (UPACKS) conceptual packaging system @ http://is.gd/earbd
  More packaging innovation that shapes our daily lives:
  http://packaginguniversity.com/blog/2010/07/22/innovative-packaging-shaping-our-lives-wo-712/

  http://packaginguniversity.com/blog/2010/07/13/innovative-packaging-shaping-our-lives-wo-75/

Think some other tips related to this week’s news are important? How about your comments on these insights? Please let me know what you think and how we can turn packaging problems into packaging success.

And, if you care about packaging, how about  “liking” this post please. Thanks…

I love packaging there is no doubt about it. I live and breathe packaging and sometimes dream about it too when I tweet in my sleep. When I go shopping I’m not there to buy I’m there to look at packaging. Or when I go to a trade show I’m forbidden to come home with more than I left with (a second suitcase full of packaging.)

But I’m not blind to the problems the packaging industry faces. All one has to do is look at the news where packaging is constantly under attack. Phrase like “great garbage patch” and “wraprage” capture the media interest far more that the good things packaging does.

Great Garbage Patch Packaging

Part of it is our own fault as we do little to educate the consumer about the role of product packaging. We take it as a given not realizing or understanding the reasons behind consumer negativity. And it’s a huge problem. One that we have to understand and address realistically.

Supermarket packaging via MyZeroWaste.com

I’ve sort of become a champion for the cause but without blinders as I try to point out the realities of true packaging innovation and solving packaging problems. Just saying packaging is bad or get rid of it doesn’t solve the issues either. People want THINGS, and packaging makes it happen. Without it the very fabric of our daily lives would be vastly different. While other countries are looking to create more stuff we are trying to reduce it.

Things are packaged the way they are because consumers demand them. Single serve gets a lot of flack yet at the same time consumers demand more of it. Ever seen how many single serve prunes that have sold? That’s not people concerned about packaging.

Single Serve Packaging

This product couldn’t exist if people didn’t want it.

Single Serve Packaging

And we want more and more convenience despite the fact that it uses more packaging.

Convenience Packaging

(Photo: Gloria Dawson / The Daily Green)

But seriously we do have packaging issues:

Too much or overpackaging products that can use less materials;

Packaging that can’t be disposed of or put back into the waste stream;

Lack of true environmental awareness about the role of product packaging in modern society.

But look at the issues that arise without packaging:

• Broken or damaged contents (smashed potato chips and broken crockery).
• How many servings are there?
• What temperature do I cook it?
• Where and how do I plug it in?
• How do I put it together?
• Will it color my gray, help me lose weight quickly, or attract the opposite sex (just kidding)?
• Can it be cooked in the microwave? What’s for dinner, Ipod anyone?

Now who’s the packaging addict? Sorry to say but there are some real idiots out there. Sure packaging contributes to the waste stream, and yes some things are over-packaged or hard to open but think through your day from the time you get up to your last bedtime snack. How many of those things could you use, do or accomplish without packaging?

So think before you rant. Understand before you condemn product packaging as the bane of your existence. You can’t have a product without a package. Most importantly, packaging is our friend.

For more ways to utilize packaging branding, innovation and marketing concepts to “connect” with your consumer contact me @ http://packagingdiva.com. You can also subscribe to the complimentary newsletter “Packaging News You Can Use” at the same address.

If there is an issue you would like to know more about or not sure how to navigate the muddled waters of greener packaging? I can help.

Just drop me a line with your specific question.